Notre Tour de France #21 (63 mi)

I've moved my alarm forward from 06:00 to 06:30, not because I want the extra time in bed, but because it's now still dark at that time. The alarm doesn't really serve its purpose anyway as I tend to switch it off, roll over and go back to sleep. When I did finally wake up for the day, I treat myself to a double helping of chocolate müsli drowned in UHT milk. I just couldn't help myself, though my excuse is that the milk wouldn't have stayed fresh for too much longer. I enjoyed this with a helping of Stephen King - Under the Dome, the novel I'm currently reading.

Limoges was enveloped in mist when we set off at 09:00, but I took this as a good sign as my experience has told me it would burn off and leave a rather warm day by lunchtime, and that's exactly what happened. The journey has again been tough going, with plenty of hills thrown in as we head further south and slightly west. I'm hoping when we start heading directly west in a couple of days, this craziness will ease off as we cycle ourselves closer to the coast again.

Not wanting to cycle an especially crazy distance again today as we both still have sore legs, we started looking for campsites after around 60 miles and found a nice one called "Camping Le Bois du Coderc" in the village of Antonne-et-Trigonant. It's quiet, in the middle of the woods (as the name suggests) and is situated next to a nice river. The only complaint I have is that it is fairly expensive to stay here. The nearest big place around here, Périgueux, is 7 or 8 miles away, so we may not explore that tomorrow but instead have a look around the surrounding villages.

My bike has persisted with its new grinding noise, which I've isolated to the rear hub. After finishing this blog post, I'll be writing a letter of complaint to the bike shop and I feel sorry for the person who has to read it. It really is one thing after another and it's not as though I don't try and look after my pride and joy. I won't let it get in the way of this trip, though. The bike is still rideable (for now) and while that's still the case, I'll be happy.

I calculated today that we have a little over a week left of this trip. I can't believe how quickly it's gone and I'm sure the next few days will also fly by. I'm getting to the point though where I'll be ready to come home. I especially miss my family and friends, but also the small things such as home comforts.

Now please excuse me while I try find something to eat for dinner... I'm absolutely starving!